February 28, 2014 
BELUR to UDUPI via UJIRE DHARMASTHALA - 215 km
Sriram Residency 863 Rs ($13.50) spacious fan room. Hot water 7:30-10:30am, no wifi 

Fresh Coffee and Scenic Western Ghats

Today's ride rated high on the scenery chart. We pulled out of Belur at 8:30. It was pleasantly cool and the sky was blue. Children in their neat school uniforms and matching backpacks walked in small groups to school. Some who lived too far were brought by overstuffed rickshaws. Herders walked their cows or buffaloes to fields to graze. 
 
The windy road took us through cool forested areas and again past large coffee plantations. The "Coffee Corner" signs promised "The real taste of coffee". We were due for a break and decided to stop at this popular place on a hairpin overlooking the coffee plantation. I really enjoyed the lightly roasted Arabica and bought a pound. Recharged, we continued. 

Today was one of those super scenic days that make me feel almost euphoric. No large chaotic cities to navigate through. Just blissful nature, sleepy villages, gorgeous gorges. Plus, the road surface was smooth and no speed bumps in any of the villages.  
 
 
The road continued into higher tree covered mountains. Past gorges and waterfalls. Frequently we stopped just to take in the vistas. Eventually the vegetation became more tropical as many varieties of palms and bamboo appeared and monstrous finger plants clung to host trees. 

The mountains flattened out and for a while it was more hilly. Several times oncoming buses and trucks came too close for comfort and once we were completely pushed off the road. Scary to say the least. I'm officially in charge of flipping these drivers the bird and take that job seriously. 
 

Dharama sthala Buffalo Races
    
In our Lonely Planet, Dave had read about buffalo races on the weekends in Ujire Dharamasthala. There were no details about where exactly the races are held. It is Saturday today and it sounded like a fun diversion, only 9 km off our route, making for a 18 km side-trip.

 
Sri Rama Kshethra Complex

Midway between Ujire and Dharamsthala, we came to an enormous temple complex founded by Shri Shri Shri Athmananda Saraswathi Swamiji. The temple's location is known for natural beauty. Shri Rama Kshetra is dedicated to Lord Rama.The foundation stone was laid in 1978 and the building dedication was in 2007. So it is new new new.
 
 Bus loads of pilgrims arrived in their finest saris. There were also several hotels nearby which seemed to have been built solely for visiting pilgrims. We were apparently solidly on the pilgrims route. 


Dharama-sthala 
  “One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” 
             Jack Kerouac, The Dharama Bums 

Ugire Dharamasthala also was teaming with thousands devotees. But no one we asked had heard of the buffalo races. 
    
Our eyes caught some impressive chariots carved out of wood. 

We then followed two elephants to the temple grounds. From the outside, the temple wasn't impressive but is sure held something very special for the hundreds of devotees patiently waiting in long lines to get a glimpse of the solid gold statue of Vishnu. We were happy with the blessing I received from the elephant when I put a 10 Rs note in his trunk and just watching the colorful parade of saries going by. 

A local Indian started to give us a primer on Hinduism, the main gods, etc. He told us this temple was special because they ignore caste. Dave was skeptical but later found an on-line page that backed up his claim... 
 
"Dharmasthala is the perfect embodiment of the word "Dharma" for it displays every shade of meaning with which the word is imbued. Dharmasthala represents religious tolerance wherein caste, creed and faith of pilgrims are no bars."
 

VIP Tour of Manjunatha Temple in Dharmasthala (Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Temple)
 
Dave spotted an information office, a place for devotees to leave luggage since that is not allowed in the temple. I waited outside while Dave hoped to get wiser about the buffalo races. After about ten minutes Dave came out with a man who was assigned to give us the VIP no-waiting-in-line shortcut through the temple. 
 
We removed our shoes and Dave, like all the men, had to remove his shirt. People were blessed, and drank sacred water, there was fire and there was smoke. We could tell people were overcome by the holiness of the experience. I felt like we were intruding and made a quick circuit through the temple while different devotees pointed out the special statues to us that were easy to miss in the intricately carved alcoves. When these people reached the sacred core of the temple they had stood in line for two or more hours... 
 
“It was all completely serious, all completely hallucinated, all completely happy.”  Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums 
 
Back outside we asked a few more people about the buffalo races but we could not a person who had ever heard about them.This had been an unexpected interesting side-trip nevertheless. 
 
 
Yippi Udupi
 
We had another 60 or so km to our destination, Udupi. At no point did we have a view of the Arabian Sea as we descended from higher ground to the flatter coastal area. Still in Udipi town center we were 4 km from the beach. It is markedly hotter and more humid. 

Udupi is a much larger town then I expected. We got a large fan room on the 8th floor at the highly rated Sriram Residency. The place is clean and the staff friendly and welcoming. And, supposedly, has great restaurants we were anxious to try. This town has numerous temples. But we decided enough is enough. We hoped catch up on our emails, news, read and maybe do some wash. 

The Lonely Planet author gave the place a "fantastic" rating but dinner at the hotel lounge was disappointing. I can blame the loud music for misunderstandings. But in the end, half our order didn't show up. What had shown up was meager and bland. We told them not to bother getting the forgotten food. 


March 01, 2015 - UDUPI 
   
Easy Day Off

Got some wash and shopping done. We ventured only out in the heat to get some essentials at Big Bazaar supermarket and to the air conditioned Pizza Hut for lunch. 
 
Our room on the 8th floor afforded a great view over the palm studded city and beyond towards the mountains we had come from and the 13th century Krishna Temple a few blocks over.

 
Ruckus at the Krishna Temple

After sundown, while we enjoyed our evening drink and a game of cards, we heard music coming from the temple's direction. A bit later we could see lit up statues moving through the street. We got dressed in a flash and b-lined in the direction of the temple. 

The elevator was too slow in coming so we decided to run down the stairs. Passing the kitchen on the 2nd floor, I noticed a guy sitting in front of the open fridge cutting a piece of chicken on the filthy floor. It grossed me out bad. I realized too late that I had my camera in my hand and should have taken a picture. 
 
Our timing to the temple festival parade was perfect. Musicians and dancers preceded the intricately carved wooden chariots carrying the illuminated sacred statues to the temple. One devotee took us aside to a window in the temple so we could witness the puja ceremony. We briefly watched the age old ceremony with plenty of fire and smoke while two men wielded what looked like large pompoms. We backed away to let the eager devotees have a glimpse. We would have missed this lovely temple had it not been for this festival. The 9-tiered tower in front of the temple wasn't as colorful or elaborate as some we visited in Tamil Nadu but very special nevertheless. We were drenched by the time we got back to our room. The humidity is palatable. Under our fan on full blast, we fell asleep still early.